Word.ws English Dictionary

county

UK/ˈkaʊnti/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Northumbria/ˈkuːntɪ/

county noun: the land ruled by a count or a countess.

county: the land ruled by a count or a countess
Image: IMeowbot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

county (countable and uncountable, plural counties)

  1. (historical) The land ruled by a count or a countess.
    • The first of the principalities of the Low Countries to take clear shape was the county of Flanders.2018, Paul Arblaster, A History of the Low Countries
    Synonyms:
    countship, countdom
  2. An administrative or geographical region of various countries, including Bhutan, Canada, China, Croatia, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and 47 of the 50 United States (excluding Alaska, Connecticut, and Louisiana).
    • Entire states such as California, Illinois and New York are now sanctuaries, as well as major cities and counties such as Fairfax, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties and the District of Columbia in the capital region, according to the list. […] FAIR says the county is a sanctuary because it...2018 May 10, Stephen Dinan, “Half of all Americans now live in ‘sanctuaries’ protecting immigrants”, in The Washington Times
    Synonyms:
    hsien
  3. A definitive geographic region, without direct administrative functions.
    • traditional county
  4. (US, slang, uncountable) A jail operated by a county government.
    • He can't come; he's up in the county for agg assault.
    • Okay gentlemen, you've both been to county before, I'm sure. Here it comes.1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction, spoken by The Wolf (Harvey Keitel)

Adjective

county (comparative more county, superlative most county)

  1. Characteristic of a ‘county family’; representative of the gentry or aristocracy of a county.
    • Now, in the district around Chipping Carby, the County Families are very County indeed, few more so.1886, Andrew Lang, The Mark of Cain
    • She was a tall girl and county, with Hilary's walk: she seemed to topple even when she sat.1979, John Le Carré, Smiley's People, Folio Society, published 2010, page 274

county meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali

county in Hindi

administrative region of various countries
काउण्टी kāuṇṭī, शहरिस्तान śahristān

county in Marathi

काउंटी

county in Urdu

land ruled by a count or countess
شَہْرِسْتان śahristān
administrative region of various countries
کاؤُنْٹی kāunṭī, شَہْرِسْتان śahristān

county in Bengali

বিভাগ, প্রদেশ, চাকলা
More languagesFewer languages
county in Telugu
కౌంటీ
county in Malayalam
രാജ്യവിഭാഗം
county in Kannada
ಕಂಪಣ
county in Punjabi
ਕਾਊਂਟੀ, ਕਾਉਂਟੀ
county in Gujarati
કાઉન્ટી
county in Nepali
काउन्टी, काउन्टि
county in Arabic
كونتِيّة kōntiyya, مُحَافَظَة muḥāfaẓa, مُقَاطَعَة muqāṭaʕa
county in Indonesian
kabupaten
county in Vietnamese
quận, quận hạt, hạt

Examples of county in a sentence

  • You'll have to drive out of this dry county to find any liquor.
  • The company is the leader in home remodeling in the county.
  • You'll need to turn off before we get to the county line.

All 40 example sentences with county

Synonyms of county

Forms of county

Noun
pluralcounties
Adjective
comparativemore county
superlativemost county

Plural of county: counties

Origin of county

From Middle English countee, counte, conte, from Anglo-Norman counté, Old French conté (French comté), from Latin comitātus (“jurisdiction of a count”), from comes (“count, earl”). Cognate with Spanish condado (“county”) and Italian contea (“county”). Doublet of comitatus, borrowed directly from Latin. Mostly displaced native Old English sċīr, whence Modern English shire.

Words formed from county

Phrases with county

180 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with county

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about county

What does county mean?
County means the land ruled by a count or a countess.
What is county in Hindi?
County in Hindi is काउण्टी (kāuṇṭī), शहरिस्तान (śahristān). See County meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is county?
County can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce county?
County is pronounced /ˈkaʊnti/ (UK).
What is the plural of county?
The plural of county is counties.

Words near county in the dictionary

  1. countup
  2. countups
  3. countwheel
  4. countwheels
  5. countwise
  6. county
  7. County Antrim
  8. county at large
  9. county borough
  10. county boroughs
  11. county brownie

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: county (page history and authors); county (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); county (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); county (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); county (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); county (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); county (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); county (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); county (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-county.ogg.

Cite this entry: “county.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/county. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.